Off The Grid News Better Ideas For Off The Grid Living
All of the fantastic fiber you get from animals on your homestead will become beautiful yarns, batting and stuffing. At first, when you look at the wool fleece, or hair right off the animal you may wonder how that dirty, messy bundle of wool/hair will ever become yarn, but it will. First things first:
Prepare the Fleece
We’ll concentrate on fleece for this piece, because that is the most common fiber turned into yarn, and the fiber that produces the most per sheering. You will have to learn the right ways to sheer the animal you are using, but once you have the fleece in front of you, it is time to make it ready for spinning.
Skirting: Skirting is the term used for the process of getting rid of the edges of the fleece that have the most dirt, waste material, and which are usually ragged from cutting. Your fleece will normally be in one solid piece (at least once you have practiced and gotten the hang of sheering). Lay it flat on a table, and cut off one to two inches all around the fleece.
Clean it Up: Fleece, especially from sheep, is VERY oily. You will feel it every time you pat your sheep, or when you handle the fleece as it first comes off the animal. (By the way, I can think of no better reason for adding sheep to your homestead than the soft hands you will get from touching all of that natural lanolin you would pay a fortune for in the store.) You will, however, need to wash the dirt and grime out of the fleece, and get rid of most of the lanolin.
You will need a large pail, kettle, or you can use the washing machine. (However, do not actually “wash” your fleece in the machine – the agitators will destroy the fleece.) Place fleece in net bags, the kind you find at your local store for laundry, and press that into a bucket or tub full of cool water containing laundry detergent or dish soap. Soak for about 20 minutes, gently pressing the wool into the water to easily agitate it with your hands.
Remove the bag of wool, pour out the soapy water and fill the bucket, pail or machine with cold water. Put bag back into the water and swish gently with your hands to rinse the soap out. Repeat the rinse cycle several times until the soap is gone. Gently squeeze water out of the bag of wool. Open the bag and spread the fleece out to dry. If you leave it in the bag, the center will have a hard time drying out, and may develop mold.
Carding: You will need a hand carder, which resembles a dog slicker brush but is made to work fleece. Take a handful of the fleece off of the washed wool and hold it firmly. With the brush in the other hand, swipe the fleece with the carder. The result will amaze you. Instead of the tight, bunched-up curls, that wool will transform into fluffy, beautiful wool, and you are ready to spin.
Drop or Roll
There are two types of spinning appliances you can use to create yarn: drop spindles and spinning wheel. Just about everyone knows what a spinning wheel is. Children learn about the spinning wheel that Cinderella pricked her finger on in their bedtime stories. Few people are familiar with the drop spindle; however, the drop spindle is perhaps the easiest for beginning spinners to get the hang of. Both wheel and spindle work on the same principle, and their end result is the same – a tightly twisted strand of wool that transforms into yarn.
Choosing a Drop Spindle
Look for a lightweight, well-balanced spindle. Drop spindles come in all shapes and sizes, but heavier ones will be harder for you to learn and handle. Start off with some previously spun yarn (or buy a small skein of yarn from your local store to get you started). Tie off a two-to-three-inch piece of yarn to the shaft of the drop spindle. Follow the directions on the type of spindle you have to load the rest of the yarn and prepare it for spinning. There are several styles – bottom whorl, top whorl, hooked, grooved, and others – so it is impossible to accurately deliver the proper loading method for each one in one place.
Once you have your spindle loaded with the leader piece, grasp a small piece of wool in the palm of your hand, and wrap the tip of it around the end of the lead yarn. Let the spindle hang from the yarn and spin it so that the yarn and wool twist together. Pull the wool and spin the spindle as it turns into a fine strand of yarn before your eyes. As the length of the yarn grows you can wrap the excess around the spindle and continue making more until the spindle is full and you have a skein of yarn from your very own fiber animals.
Spinning wheels work in the same basic way, but are a little more complicated to operate. Each style comes with its own instructions for hooking up the leader and making the wheel turn, but the process of twisting a piece of wool onto the end of the leader and spinning it into a fine strand is the same with the wheel as it is with the spindle. For more information on the wonderful craft of spinning, visit the website The Joy of Handspinning. You’ll find instruction videos and information on all aspects of handspinning fiber into yarn.
Other articles in this issue:
Many years ago I taught spinning and weaving lessons. I still have two spinning wheels which need some minor repairs. Generally I agree with everything you said except for how to wash the wool. First of all, you do NOT have to wash it. If the fleece is relatively clean (as it generally would be for a sheep that is pastured) you can card and spin it as-is then wash the spun wool. One thing you said that totally made me cringe was to rinse it in HOT water. No no no no no!!!! That is how you make FELT, by shocking the fiber and agitating it. Maybe you are too young to remember washing sweaters by hand in Woolite in COLD WATER. If you want to wash your fleece first, you soak it first in COLD water, drain the water, then you can wash it in some mild soap or dish detergent (NOT dishWASHER detergent). Use it sparingly or you will be rinsing it forever. To wash yarn you tie the skein to keep it from tangling and then wash it the same way, but in COLD water. Some fibers, like dog hair, you shock in hot water after it’s spun or it will fall apart. Spinning linen is an art in itself and employs specific techniques as well. Maybe it’s time for me to get back into this stuff….
Hey Val, I read your reply and I have to say that with the rise of interest in basic skills, maybe it would be a good idea for you to either put together a series of videos for youtube or make some online lessons yourself. Heck, this IS the information age and it seems to me that since you apparently know quite a bit about this stuff, it could certainly help others and perhaps help you as well. Just a thought… God bless ya’!
Having been taught how to spin from a Master Spinner with the Endowment of Arts, I see two problems with these posts. First: You never use detergents on fleece. Fleece is hair, sheep hair. You use shampoo, a regular, cheap shampoo. Secondly: You CAN use HOT water when you scour (wash) your fleece, although I suppose it can be a matter of personel preference. I use HOT water (a temp. of 160-degrees) and do not agitate (this will cause felting, not hot water). Using too little shampoo vs. too much is the way to determine the amount. Wuzzing (spinning of the fleece) is how I get the water out, by doing so in a washer on the spin cycle. In the last rinse and wuzzing of the fleece, I use a small amount of cedarwood or pennyroyal essential oil, along w/a 1/4 cup of white vinegar. This removes any shampoo residue, and also protects the fleece from wool moths. Always store your woolen garments clean and NOT dirty. I sell my fleeces for top dollar when we shear, often a year in advance.
Right!You gotta make some Youtube videos on that.
Just a trivial little FYI…Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on the spinning wheel not Cinderella. Otherwise l loved the article.
Just a correction: it’s “shear” and “shearing”, not “sheer” and “sheering”, when you speak of fleece and sheep.
For all those corrections, I knew what you were saying and it just doesn’t matter who pricked their finger or if you are shearing or having sheer joy, just thank you so much for all the correct lessons you gave. You go girl. I am 72 and yes, you are correct! I know because I can do it. Keep it up, and for the rest of you get a life, and point out the good stuff and the bad stuff only if the information is incorrect and would harm another. Gotta go out and get me one of the rabbits, clean it and cook it for supper! Bet Pippi and godmoma will not be getting fresh meat for supper tonight….With Light, Love and Bliss
As a person whose husband makes spindles, and other fiber tools for our living it seems appropriate to weigh in on this subject (and yes, it’d help if the author had spelled shear correctly as well as used the correct fairytale, which involves a Great Wheel, which has a pointed quill, and not the spinning wheels most common today which don’t have a sharp pointed object to impale a finger.)
Spinning has become wildly popular in the last five years among people of all ages! (Seriously, it’s breathtaking how many people have been captivated.) Fiber shows draw in the hundreds and thousands of attendants (Last May The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival at the Howard Co fairgrounds had to turn away people at the fairgrounds entrance.) eager to buy fleeces, prepared fibers, spinning wheels, and spindles of more types and varieties than one can imagine. Drop spindle covers a wide range of styles; then there’s a whole slew of support spindle styles as well as hand spindles – all productive in knowledgeable hands. There are many YouTube videos demonstrating how to use the different styles as well as how to spin. (Some are terrible so beware of misinformation!)
As for washing a raw fleece – Hot water is the best way but one can use any temperature. Agitating and radical change of water temperature felts wool. If a fleece is gently (operative word here) laid into the water and left to soak it will not felt, there needs to be movement among the fibers causing them to lock together. Also a radical change between hot to cold water can shock the fibers into felting too.
Esther barely scratches the surface of spinning fiber, and oversimplifies the process. It’s not hard but there is definitely a learning curve which takes a great deal of practice for the average person to making yarn that would be suitable for knitting/crocheting/weaving. But once you get bitten by the spinning bug – it’s all downhill.
Spinning is a wonderful and very useful skill to learn – your hands will never be idle, especially with a spindle that can go anywhere with you and make a long wait or commute pass quickly.
A wonderful follow up! You are knowledgeable and that is important when people read these articles. Serious harm can be done to a beautiful fleece if information given is incorrect. Kudo’s to you for eloquently stating fact.
PS I love knitting socks & sweaters as well as weaving cloth from my hand spun yarn. The entire process takes time but is extremely gratifying and meditative.
Glad to see W Jenkins weigh in on this. I personally have been spinning for over 17 years. My love for it led to raising my own fiber animals: sheep, goats, rabbits, llamas, Great Pyrenees dogs. I haven’t gained the nerve to try raising cotton and flax yet – probably never will.
The article is a fairly good overview to prick some interest, but there is a lot of mis-information in it if you are a serious student. Especially about the washing of wool. You can actually wash wool in any temperature water. The important thing to remember is to maintain the temperature of the water so no “shocking” occurs. I personally wash my wool in a washing machine. NEVER, NEVER let your washing machine agitate! If you would like to remove the dirt but leave the lanolin in, washing and rinsing in cool/cold water is what you want. If you want squeaky-clean wool, add a cup of ammonia for the first round of washing; it melts the lanolin right off. Also, if you add a cup of vinegar in the rinse, it will alter the pH and kill any ammonia or soap left in the wool. I know some add liquid fabric softener in the final rinse for softness; I personally do not. Any handling of the wool during the washing process must be done gently without agitating or rubbing the fibers together. I like my wool squeaky-clean so I start with a 10 minute soak in hot water with a cup of ammonia added. First fill your wash tub and then gently press the wool into the water as you do not want the falling water to “agitate” the wool and cause any felting. For the 2nd and 3rd wash cycles, move the wool to the opposite side of the tub and place a deflector of some sort in the tub to prevent the falling water from causing any agitation and add your detergent. Gently reposition the wool in the tub and let soad for 5- 10 minutes. Repeat this until you are satisfied with the cleanliness of your wool. Use the same process with the same temperature water for the rinse and add 1 cup of vinegar to “kill” the soap. Depending on the amount of soap you have used, you may need to rinse more than once. Drain the water and run the clean wet wool through at least 2 spin cycles before you remove it for drying. Drying the wool on a screen rack works great if you have one big enough. I like to put my wool on a cotton sheet in the sunshine if it’s not a windy day. Your wool will dry quicker and more evenly if you turn it occasionally and pull the clumps apart.
As for “skirting” your fleeces… Please do not “cut” the edges off if you are planning to use the wool for spinning. Gently pulling the the really dirty portions off will be preferred by spinners. Cut edges of wool are prickly ends and do not feel good to the skin in the final product, whether yarn or clothing. Many people think that they are allergic to wool because of prickling and resulting skin irritation, when in reality, they are just reacting to a cut end. Magically, in handspinning, the single cut end winds up inside the yarn and not on the outside where it will inflict irritation.
There are many ways to prepare the fleece for spinning. Carding is only one way. The English were well known for combing their wools to produce “worsted” yarns. Spinning a carded wool produces a lofty “woolen” yarn. Other ways can be using a regular people or dog metal comb, a “flicker” which is very similar to a dog slicker, or just teasing the locks apart by hand.
Learning to spin changed my entire life; it not only brought me closer to self-sufficiency, it has provided many hours of relaxation and stress relief from my chosen career. When I first was learning and didn’t have any fibers to spin, I would just sit and treadle the borrowed wheel I was using. The rhythm of treadling by itself is so relaxing! It also helped with the learning curve of putting hands and foot together.
Once you enter the fiber world, the imagination runs wild and the possibilities are endless! Your family will wonder who kidnapped their loved one and replaced them with this maniac! But soon they will realize how they benefit from this metamorphosis. The loved one is less stressed and much more carefree and adventurous, not to metion all the goodies they get at Christmas and birthdays…blankets, scarves, sweaters, socks (my favorite), etc. etc. Soon the fiber bug has taken over the entire house and wonderful fiber chaos reigns supreme! Fiber tools start replacing furniture…don’t really need the love seat, lets put a loom there, a spinning wheel in the corner, hanks of yarn and drop spindles in the basket, boxes of fiber in the front hall closet (because all other closets and spaces under beds are filled). Need more room? No problem…we’ll just build an addition on the back of the 30′x40′ garage. So if you like your safe, organized world, turn back now before you are bitten!
One thing still remains a mystery to me though…I know that there must be some way to convert all the treadling and spinning into electricity. I am not electronically wired, so to speak. I hope one day to figure it out so I can harness and utilize all that energy going to waste in the atmosphere!
I got the spinning bug about 7 years ago. I will comment on the fleese that is on the market now, that the sheep breeders now are focusing more on the quality of the fleese produced. The US is finally realizing the benifits of raising a dual purpose sheep. Our homeland fleese has really seen a GREAT improvement in recent years.
I teach drop spindle, great wheel and regular spinning to anyone that is interested. The local spinning guild has seen a large increase interest with many younger people wanting to learn. (love those Jenkins spindles)
I have a friend who raises Shetland sheep which she plucks the locks from. This wool is lighter in oils and fairly clean, so I can card and spin right from the sheep. I then will wash it before I knit with it.
I do re-enactment for the time period of 1790 to 1812. We have so many children that have no idea where wool comes from. All that history lost.
Awwwww, now, I might have to look into a Jenkins spindle!! JUST what I need, another spinning toy!!
I got interested in fiber about 12 years ago; our state archæologist hooked me in solidly while I watched her talking about history of New Mexico to a group of people, and the entire time she was drop spinning, not missing a beat in either endeavor. I tried to learn and enjoy drop spinning, but wasn’t proficient. THEN… a Navajo friend introduced me to a Navajo leg spindle, and I found my spinning “weapon” of choice. (He saw me attempting to drop spin…. got a smile on his face, came over and pulled that Crocodile Dundee line on me… “You call that a spindle? THAT’S not a spindle… let me show YOU a spindle!!”)
I also have a wheel, but get more done with that leg spindle because it goes with me EVERYwhere, doctor’s offices, DMV, tire store, you name it. It’s also a GREAT conversation starter!
Thank you SOOO much to Juju and W. Jenkins, I learned some important things from you!
On the temperature of the wash water: I have learned through natural dye demonstrations galore that you can avoid shocking wool with hot water if you make sure the wool is SOLIDLY wet with room temperature water first, THEN you can immerse it in hot. I boil spun wool in dye water all the time, but make sure that the wool is good and wet before introducing hot, and when I go to rinse, I air-cool the skeins to be comfortable to the touch before immersing in the cooler rinse water. I have yet to have one felt on me that way. The only skein that I’ve accidentally felted was in moderately warm water, when I got waaaaay too enthusiastic about and impatient with washing it completely, and agitated a really FINE skein of black alpaca into a fuzzy lump.
…and Juju… all that energy isn’t wasted, it goes right back into the spinner and becomes personal electricity!
So true mapmaven! The energy you gain from spinning helps you get thru the next day, week, experience, etc. And I love a Navojo spindle! But my favorite spindle is a “kick” spindle…love the high speed it provides for spinning fine fibers.
One thing I forgot to mention about washing wool, or any products made from wool…you do not want to wash your item in a detergent that contains enzymes. Enzymes break down protein, and wool is a protein fiber; ergo, detergents that contain enzymes break down wool and any other animal fibers. Protect your yarns, wool products, and also “store-bought” wool garments and items!
awwww, now, juju, there you go again, I now have to go research a kick spindle…! (Yes I’m kinda new at diversity in spinning)…
Well Folks……I have been spinning since 1971, a very long time……….if I live long enough, I will write yet another book about the care, handling, spinning, etc. of fleece. I have several out there on fleecerelated things. People worry overmuch about the handling. A good old fashioned detergent is and can be used to wash the fleece and come up with good clean fleece, especially if you have any intentions of dyeing said fleece. You don’t need the whitener’s and brighteners. And you want hot, hotter, and hottest water available. It will not shink or felt that wool, but it will make it clean easily. That said, don’t take to scrubbing or otherwise agitating those fibers. Use a good strong stick and pick up, turn over gently and poke now and again. Wool opens up nicely when it is in hot water letting the dirt fall freely from it. A washer or a centrifuge is a wonderful tool to spin out that dirty grungy water, making the next step easier. I wash twice, and rinse once if it is going into the dyepot, and twice if it is going to be used natural.
You can take that fleece from that very hot water and drop it directly into that icy cold water with no felting whatsoever………..as long as you do not touch it until it is all the same temperature. Let it aclimate then rinse. It isn’t going to felt as long as you leave it alone for awhile. Wool is tough, it is not fragile and it is not scary if you just use common sense with it. Folks these days have been taught that all wool has to go to the cleaners and let the chemicals take care of it……..Phfutt!!!! Take it to the water, it will stay in a much better condition…….wool loves water!!!
Now as to starting to work with the freshly washed fleece……….if you have a decent fleece, with a nice length to it, you don’t need to card that wool………..tiresome job at best. By a nice small cat hair brush and get to work brushing those tips and cut ends of the handful of locks. Soon you will have a nice pile of fluffy locks that you can roll up if you must so you can spin from one end of the roll, or you can just start spinning, from end, fold it over your finger and spin from the fold……..whatever. And if you don’t have a spindle, a wheel, etc. to spin on, take a wire hanger, cut off a length of about 10 inches or so, bend a tiny hook at one end, dip it into the fluffed fiber and start rolling the wire on your leg while pulling the fiber away from the hook. Instant yarn, so simple, but works up pretty fast………….a stick from the tree can do the same, and if you don’t have that, find a nice oval shaped rock, hot glue a looped string around it, and there you go……….you can spin!!
I have never spun before, but I collected fiber from my beloved Akita dog (I was going to send it off to a spinner), and made the mistake of washing it in the wash mashine and wound up with great balls of felt!–is there any way to carefully pull it apart, and start over again the right way?–well, it is clean, but in the form of felt. If I soaked it in some water and hair conditioner, and tried to gently pull it appart while still in the liquid, would that work? Unfortunately, my dog passed away last year, so I don’t have any more of her fiber except the felt balls. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Dear Lisa,
I am so sorry about the loss of your beloved canine family member.
I hope you found your answer and are enjoying a nice scarf or wearable knit garment now. Like you, I have access to a LOT of Akita hair. Bath times and the biannual shedding produce buckets full of this fuzzy stuff. I too am looking for a service or a means to spin her hair into thread/yarn. I know very little about spinning.
When I was little, in the very earthy 1970′s, I adored the little spinning wheel in my Sunshine Family Store (see pasted link) http://www.stagecoachtoys.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=132. As a girl, I delighted in the tactile transformation of this fibre: balls of cotton or wool into long happy strands of yarn or thick thread.
I am saving this link to my favorites list and look forward to more expert insights, especially as they relate to spinning threads from Akita fibres.
Ester, thanks so much for generously initiating this thread (pun intended), sharing your information on this topic and enduring the editing/syntax/spellcheck police and other critics, which can be discouraging to many who dare share their experiences on line.
I enjoyed your enthusiasm and your conversational writing style.
With Warm Regards and Best Wishes,
D. Hunter
Awesome post – keep up the good work.
I am interested in learning to spin. Can anyone tell me if there is anyone inmy area? Everyone I have asked doesn’t know of anyone here. I live near Bourbonnais, IL 60914.
I do not spin and can not see myself ever doing so. I am a “crafty” person, I make my own guitars, right down to the pickups and tuning machines, but wool and spinning are not likely in my future. So why post a comment?
I write novels. I self-publish – got past the slushpile with a publisher, but since I like to do things for myself, why let them take control? Anyway, one of my projects involves a couple teens being shocked by accidently dropping 137 years into the past. (Just think, no Internet! The Internet is like air, you are not aware it is actual substance until it is forcibly removed from you!) Having grown up in the ’70′s on a farm with no running water, wood heat, no plumbing, etc, I can pull from my past to imagine the horror a city teen would have about life without light switches and toilet paper! (Never use pine needles)
So … I would love to know WHICH Youtube videos on carding and spinning won’t lead me astray!!!!
I would like to hear from any like-minded person, too. I’m not a off-the-grid kind of person, although when the power failed for 3 hours I had all the electricity I needed. I do not live in the past, in fact, most people use me for techy solutions with computers or sound systems, etc, and I operate a teenchat forum that is popular enough to have copycats!. But I miss the simple life, where people helped each other and could survive without breaking into nervous prostrations the minute the cable went out. (No, I do not have and never had TV)
williams_the_writer@yahoo.com
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Jeanne, you really shuold think about producing some knitting DVDs for those who enjoy learning at their leisure. I have been knitting for many years but I still love to learn new techniques by watching! All your JBW videos are great and VERY informative and clearly shown.
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